Into the Night with …

Jim Rose and Joe Coleman

Welcome to the circus ring! The freak show master Jim Rose made a million dollar business with the dark side of the circus – his “Jim Rose Circus”. In his adopted country of Nantes he meets his favourite artist, the legendary New Yorker painter Joe Coleman. An evening full of sensations with two true masters of the unusual and saturnine.

A journey back to the roots of circus when the spectacle was based on curiosity. The American Jim Rose revived the classical freak show in the 90s with his “Jim Rose Circus” and made a million dollar business with it. He even had guest appearances in “The X-Files” and “The Simpsons”. In his adopted country Nantes he meets his favourite artist , the legendary painter and provocateur Joe Coleman. Coleman is fascinated by the dark side of the circus since his childhood days. His paintings show the shadowy of American culture, stars like Johnny Depp belong to his admirers.

Nantes proves to be the perfect setting for the two fans of the fantastic. They marvel at the giant mechanic elephant at the “Island of Machines”, meet the hologram artist Pierrick Sorin and explore the Jules Verne Museum. Together they visit the circus school “Chapidock” where Rose tries to reconnect with the good old times as juggler and Coleman shoots flames into the night sky together with a fire-artist. The circus community “Quai des Chaps” inspired Jim Rose to some shenanigans with painful outcome for his victims.

Coleman and Rose — two men who look back on an extreme life full of drugs and excesses: One a freak show master enjoying tricks and fraud, the other an artist with a tendency for reckless self-experiments. The affection between those both extraordinary storytellers couldn’t be stronger. As a result Jim Rose bursts out the ultimate declaration of love while dining: “Joe, you are really crazy.”